Back to basics

My apologies for not having written for a long time.

On par with Acme Bakery: Josie Baker’s seed feast levain

Recently, my attitudes toward food have changed. While I still enjoy cooking, I often make the simplest dishes. Gone are the days when I assembled 10+ ingredients for a recipe. I just go for whatever feels right – no more advanced planning for an entire week’s menu.

Another huge change for me is I crave sweets much less than before. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know I took a no-holds-barred approach to sweets. There were days I gobbled up an entire cake or a canister of cookies as a meal. My attempts at cutting down on sweets failed repeatedly.

How did these changes happen? The lunches provided at our office, at least partly.

Our lunches tend to be carb-heavy, with a lot of rice, pasta, and pizzas. I am full throughout the day so I don’t feel like cooking anything complex when I get home. I don’t want more carbs such as sugar either. White rice and pasta are not health food, but they should be more nutritious than sugar.

My diet now harks back to my adolescent and college years, when I ate carbs liberally and didn’t have a sugar craving. Since I started working, I deliberately reduced the amount of carbs in my diet to stay fit. I gradually lost weight, but I increasingly clamored for sugar.

Here’s my theory: I craved sugar because I didn’t eat enough carbs. It sounds illogical to cut carbs with more carbs, but my body seems to be telling me this. The effect of a sugar crash (feeling jittery after a sugar-induced “high”) also became more pronounced within my body, which strengthened my will to stay away from sugar.

Of course I still love cakes and pastries. I buy a croissant occasionally and savor their pictures online, but I haven’t binged on sweets for a while.

Instead I reach for something more wholesome and likely to make me feel full. My latest fetishes: chewy bread and crunchy nuts. I am lucky in the Bay Area where quality artisan bread abounds (top of the post is the seed feast levain from home baker Josey Baker). The raw almonds I get from my local farmers’ market are among the best I’ve had. I hope I’m not overeating them and swinging from one extreme to another.

Incredibly fresh and crunchy almonds from Lujan Farms

Like in cooking, I’m happy with fresh and basic food. When the quality is good, it can be incredibly flavorful with little tampering needed.

I feel better too. Funny how your body constantly sends you signals but you don’t pay attention. This time, I make sure I listen.

Finally wrapping up the (2010) holidays

I know your reaction: why am I writing this when February is around the corner?

Happy Holidays…are you serious?

Blame it on some psychological need. I want to round out 2010 with an end-of-the-year post, like what I did for 2009. Plus, at least in the Chinese lunar calendar, we are still in the old year (Year of the Tiger).

I will focus on the holidays.

Our office threw a holiday party just before Christmas. The highlight was paella cooked from scratch on the spot. The chef prepared two versions: traditional seafood and vegetarian. The vegetarian version contained chickpeas, spinach, tomato paste, etc. with a hint of heat from pimentón (Spanish paprika). When the chef was done, he brought the two huge, steaming pans of paella to the center of the office. It was a spectacular sight, and the aroma was irresistible. Everyone gravitated to it.

Vegetarian paella at office’s holiday party

Those who tasted both versions said the vegetarian version was better. I only had the vegetarian one and was very happy with it. The texture of the rice was just right: it still had some form and wasn’t mushy. The ingredients complemented each other nicely.

At home I tried Seattle’s Field Roast’s vegan stuffed hazelnut cranberry roast – vegan sausage stuffed with hazelnuts, cranberries, apples, and crystallized ginger and enclosed in a layer of puff pastry. A very fall-like recipe. The roast was available over the holidays only and ideal as a centerpiece.

Field Roast’s Hazelnut Cranberry Roast

Vegan sausage roast with sautéed spinach and roasted vegetables

I heated the roast along with some diced squash and carrots in the oven, then served it with sautéed spinach. It was incredibly flavorful and substantial. I loved sausages before turning vegetarian. Field Roast’s vegan sausages are excellent and even better than the real thing.

On New Year’s Eve I visited the Ferry Building in San Francisco and had lunch at Il Cane Rosso, a quick-service Italian joint run by famed San Francisco chef Daniel Patterson. I got an avocado sandwich layered with crescenza cheese, sunchokes, and walnut-mint pesto. Staying true to the Bay Area’s food culture, the ingredients were locally produced.

Il Cane Rosso at the Ferry Building

Good but expensive avocado sandwich

While the sandwich was delicious with sophisticated flavors, it was pricey ($9) for a small portion size.

The holidays provided an excuse for indulgence and I certainly had my share of sweets. Of all the cakes, cookies, and treats I had, the best was something simple and cheap: my old favorite Trader Joe's Fruit and Nut Brittle ($3.99).

Addictive Trader Joe’s Fruit and Nut Brittle

It was a killer combination of sweet and salty: cranberries, peanuts, almonds, and cashews. I couldn’t help finishing the whole package once I started.

This year, I am serious about eating less sugar. While I set out to do the same last year and failed, things have been going quite well this time.  Wish me luck!

Have a prosperous Year of the Rabbit!

A tale of three cities

Earlier this month I took a weeklong trip to China. I visited its three most prosperous cities: Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. The trip was eye-opening as both Beijing and Shanghai have changed immensely since I visited almost a decade ago. I could feel the booming Chinese economy while I was there.

Striking architecture: future CCTV Tower in Beijing, construction has resumed after a serious fire last year

In Beijing, huge plots of land downtown have been transformed into glistening shopping malls and office towers. I reckoned none of the buildings on the street where I stayed was more than ten years old. Keep in mind Beijing is an ancient city, then you recognize the scale of the changes. These can be good or bad, depending on your perspective. The question lingering in my mind: what sacrifices ordinary citizens had to make for them to happen?

Not interested in international brands that filled downtown to the brim, I ventured out to find remnants of old Beijing. My find? A century-old pastry shop dated back to the Qing Dynasty called Daoxiangcun (稻香村;  roughly translated into “Village of Fragrant Rice”). I liked it so much that I went there multiple times during my stay, and brought some of its products back to the US as gifts.

Daoxiangcun started as a single store but has now grown into hundreds of outlets across China. There are tens of outlets in Beijing alone. It sells all kinds of sweet and salty, probably bad-for-you snacks. Most of them are uniquely Chinese, but there are also many Western items. It allows you to buy only one piece of an item so I got to try MANY things.

Some sweets I tried: traditional pastries with fillings of adzuki bean paste, mung bean paste, red date paste, black sesame seed paste, osmanthus paste, pineapple paste; walnut and honey cakes; wafers with peanut paste; fried dough in twists (mahua). Savories: ready-t0-eat shredded tofu sheets, marinated tofu nuggets and mock meat.

Daoxiangcun treats VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Almost everything tasted great and was good value. I knew I wouldn’t go wrong as many locals buy Daoxiangcun products for themselves or as gifts. The cost of living in Beijing is surprisingly high (many categories are on par with Hong Kong), so Daoxiangcun is a relative bargain.

I spent two days in Shanghai with my parents. My dad was kind enough to suggest going to a vegetarian restaurant for dinner because both my mom and I are vegetarians. I found Jichancao (吉祥草; roughly translated into “Auspicious Grass”) on Dianping, China’s version of Yelp.

Jichancao’s storefront

Located in the leafy former French Concession, Jichancao has a modern, Zen-style décor with a small Buddhist bookstore appended to it. We ordered savory dishes (pumpkin stew, braised tofu, etc.), Northern dim-sums (steamed dumplings, Chinese flatbread/shaobing), noodles, and sweet rice dumplings to round out the meal. Overall the food was delicious in a Shanghainese way (greasy with a hint of sweetness). The meal was not expensive either given Shanghai’s living standards.

Braised tofu with tomatoes, mushrooms, napa cabbage, Chinese celery

(From left) Pumpkin stew, sweet rice dumplings, Chinese flatbread with diced dill fillings

The most elaborate meal I had during my trip was in Hong Kong. My mom managed to book a table at the talk-of-the-town Amy’s House (愛美素食坊), a vegetarian “private kitchen” in a residential building that serves only one table during each meal period. We had lunch there, and chef Amy presented eight courses typical of a Cantonese dinner banquet. Completely self-taught and now in her late 50s or even 60s, Amy created an innovative feast of different flavors and textures from appetizers to desserts.

The best course was the coral seaweed salad appetizer with shredded carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, and guavas. Then there were imitations of Cantonese classics such as pan-fried shark’s fin, steamed chicken, and braised pork belly. Amy gave each dish a poetic name and asked us to guess its ingredients before putting it onto the table. The entire experience was like a show.

Best in show: coral seaweed salad with wasabi soy sauce

More appetizers: spring rolls and fried Chinese squash

Pan-fried imitation shark’s fin topped with braised pumpkin and snow peas

Imitation steamed chicken (tofu sheets) topped with bok choy, minced ginger and spring onions

No doubt Amy is a masterful cook given the complexity of each dish, but the cooking sometimes masked the original flavors of the ingredients. I found the imitation braised beef taste too much like real beef too. Don’t get me wrong: the meal was wonderful, and I appreciated that my mom arranged it for me.

Back in the US, I felt even more grateful to be living in the Bay Area. Although Amy bought her ingredients fresh from the market daily, the quality of the produce here seems better.

Like the last time I was in Hong Kong, I enjoyed eating at home with my family the most though. Too bad I only had time to do this once on the trip.

To my family and friends, happy 2011 wherever you are!

Drenched in vanilla and cinnamon

My pan de muerto, fresh from the oven

What better time than the holidays to forget about dieting and go all out for decadent treats? The problem is I already indulge myself year-round. In late October I attended a Mexican bread making workshop, and I still feel guilty about the ridiculous amounts of butter and sugar we used to make our bread.

La Cocina, San Francisco’s food entrepreneur incubator, organized the Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muerto) traditional bread workshop. I like Mexican bread for its dense, scone-like texture and was curious to know how it’s made. The opportunity to bake my own bread and taste it fresh from the oven was too good to pass.

Chef Luis of Chaac Mool Yucatecan Food, a beneficiary of La Cocina, was our instructor. More than 20 of us made it to La Cocina’s kitchen in the Mission District on a weekday night, wore the apron provided to us, and listened attentively to Chef Luis’s introduction of the pan de muerto (Bread of the Dead) traditions and the recipes we would be making.

Dia de los Muerto offerings on a makeshift altar

Pan de muerto, a type of yeasted sweet bread, is offered to the dead as part of the Dia De Los Muerto celebrations. Mexican families set up an altar in their homes and present deceased family and friends with their favorite foods and beverages. The occasion is meant to be festive and not somber – just look at the colorful paper-cut decorations on the altar.

Because Chef Luis doesn’t speak English, a translator repeated what he said in Spanish in English. Although I don’t understand Spanish, I could tell Chef Luis, in his crisp chef uniform, spoke assertively and eloquently. La Cocina does a great service helping immigrant entrepreneurs like Chef Luis tap into their culinary talents and broaden the reach of their home-country cuisines in the Bay Area. He now runs a Yucatan food stand in San Francisco’s Fort Mason Center.

Chef Luis and his translator addressing the group

We first made the standard pan de muerto. Chef Luis already mixed and leavened the dough for us, and each of us got a ball of dough. Suffice to say that the dough contained a lot of sugar, butter, milk, and eggs. There's also a hint of citrus because of the lemon and orange zests and juices mixed into it.

We took some extra dough and rolled it into decorations for the bread. Never good at crafts, I placed a simple cross on top of my dough. Then I sprinkled some sesame seeds onto it.

Finished decorating the dough and chilling

My pan de muerto before baking with the cross on top

After placing our pan de muerto into the oven, we moved on to the next recipe: pan patas de crema. Chef Luis said this sweet bread is his family specialty. We first made a cinnamon cream by mixing cinnamon, sugar, vanilla extract, butter, and flour together, then rolled the same dough we used for the pan de muerto over the cream.

Because the cinnamon cream was too watery and didn’t stick to the dough initially, we had to keep adding butter and flour to the cream. It’s unbelievable how much butter we used.

Our hands were all dirty and smelled of vanilla and cinnamon by the time we shaped the dough into a log (maybe this is why the bread is called pan patas because patas means limbs in Spanish). Chef Luis suggested that we brush the dough with more cinnamon cream to give the bread a golden-brown color. I was still coming to terms with the high-fat, high-sugar content of the dough so I resisted.

Chef Luis’s family specialty: pan patas de crema

Pan patas de crema out of the oven

After the pan patas de crema went into the oven, we finally had dinner. Coincidentally, the woman next to me and I were the only vegetarians in the group. Our dinner platter consisted of mushrooms cooked in cheese, refried beans, a tostada – all topped with a black, mole-like chimole sauce. Chimole is a Yucatan condiment made from chili peppers, onion, garlic, spices and has a smoky flavor. The non-vegetarians got turkey.

Vegetarian dinner platter: mushrooms, cheese, refried beans, and tostada in chimole sauce

The dinner was decent but no match for the ever-stronger smell of fresh baked bread wafting through the kitchen. Out of the oven, the breads were huge with a hard surface. We were like kids marveling at our creations and taking pictures. This might be the best part of baking: the magical feeling of creating something delicious out of such simple ingredients as flour, butter, and sugar.

Because Whole Foods was a sponsor of the event (most of the ingredients were from its 365 brand), we all left with a Whole Foods shopping bag to carry our bread. The bread was warm and supposedly we should let it cool before eating, but the smell of vanilla and cinnamon won over my self-control.

As I walked to the 24th Street BART station,  I couldn’t stop nibbling on the crunchy coating and dense interior of the pan patas de crema. I finished the entire loaf of bread when I arrived at the station. Guess how long I could keep my hands off the pan de muerto for the rest of my trip home.

Sweets in Portland

Yummy fresh mint flake and banana cream pie ice cream from Ruby Jewel

You don’t think I would miss out on sweets during my trip to Portland, OR, do you? I need a separate post on all the ones I tried.

As a foodie city, Portland has great dessert options, especially on the vegan front. Like savories, some of the most interesting sweets are from food carts.

Along Mississippi Avenue I found Flavorspot, a long-standing waffle sandwich cart. I ordered a sweet cream and jam waffle. Because the waffle was made on the spot, it was warm and crisp. The fillings were not cloyingly sweet. It was a simple yet satisfying sandwich.

Flavorspot “food cart,” though it’s really a stand

Freshly made sweet cream and jam waffle

In the Hawthorne cart pod, Perierra Crêperie offers a wide variety of savory and sweet crêpes. I got something simple here too: a lemon and sugar crêpe. The girl who took my order zested the lemons, poured the batter onto the crêpe pan, then finished the crêpe in a couple of minutes.

A taste of France: Perierra Crêperie

My lemon and sugar crêpe

The crêpe was fresh (half of what makes a good crêpe) but bland-tasting. Luckily, the vibe of the cart made up for it. The two girls running the cart wore retro-style aprons and played French-sounding songs in the background. They were cheerful, full of energy, and having fun. It’d be a stretch to say I felt I were in Paris, but they put me in a groovy mood.

Portland was hot when I was there, so ice cream immediately came to mind. I read a Portland Monthly Magazine article on the best ice cream in Portland, and managed to try one of the places featured. Lovely’s Fifty-Fifty on Mississippi Avenue (yes, this street has a lot of great food) is a pizzeria that also sells house-made ice cream. I tried the cherry and salted caramel flavors. Both were rich and intense and I even bit into chunks of cherries. It certainly didn’t skimp on ingredients.

Excellent cherry and salted caramel ice cream from Lovely’s Fifty-Fifty

Just a couple blocks down from Lovely’s Fifty-Fifty is Ruby Jewel, a local ice cream producer known for its ice cream sandwiches. The store is a cavernous space with a nostalgic, diner-style décor meant for people to linger. It has a larger menu than Lovely’s Fifty-Fifty, and even several vegan flavors. However, the vegan blueberry lavender flavor I tasted didn’t impress me, so I went with fresh mint flake and banana cream pie.

Welcoming Ruby Jewel ice cream store

The ice cream was excellent. As American-style ice cream, it was almost as good as San Francisco’s favorite Bi-Rite Creamery. But I liked the lighter, gelato-like variant at Lovely’s Fifty-Fifty better.

Well, I had dessert for breakfast too. The vegan Black Sheep Bakery has a stand in the mainstream PSU Farmers' Market – another proof that Portland is vegan haven. My huge apple-spice crumb cake was wonderfully moist, and didn’t have the off-taste often found in vegan cakes that contain no eggs.

Black Sheep Bakery’s apple-spice crumb cake

The best dessert that I had? A slice of vegan hazelnut cake with strawberry frosting from the vegan Back to Eden Bakery in the Alberta Arts District.  My cake was perfect, especially its slightly coarse texture due to the ground hazelnuts in the batter. The frosting was at just the right level of sweetness.

Perfect vegan hazelnut cake with strawberry frosting

All-vegan Back to Eden Bakery

I also spoke to the two owners of the bakery. They were young, charming, or even innocent-looking. The bakery’s website says it is committed to “a love for the animals, and a love for this planet,” and this is evident from the artwork lining the walls and the carefully picked green merchandise. They really put their heart into the store.

Perhaps this is the best part of Portland: young people following their ideals and trying out ideas, be they a food cart or vegan bakery, which might otherwise be impossible in more expensive cities such as New York and San Francisco.

Sweetpea Baking Company in Portland’s “vegan mall” complex

I was disappointed with Sweetpea Baking Company though - the vegan bakery supposed to represent Portland’s vegan scene. I might have gone there too late in the afternoon; there wasn’t much to buy. Maybe the staff were being laid-back, but they seemed too hip or busy with whatever they were doing to talk to me.

Redwoods in Portland’s beautiful Hoyt Arboretum

Portland’s International Rose Test Garden in full bloom

With its beautiful outdoors, youthful spirit, offbeat yet authentic character, Portland is a great place to visit, whether you’re vegan or not. I left Portland with a full stomach and hoped I would soon return.

Sampling two Mission District favorites

Because of my job transition, I had a couple of free days during the week last month. There were several popular food spots in San Francisco’s Mission District I had long wanted to try, but the weekend crowds kept deterring me. Finally I could check out these places without the ridiculous wait.

TARTINE BAKERY

I went to Tartine Bakery on a Wednesday afternoon. Many consider Tartine to be the best bakery in San Francisco, and it’s most well-known for its French bread, croissant, and banana cream tart.

I was pleasantly surprised to see no line in the store. The croissants are often sold out before lunch, but there were still many on the counter today. I had checked the menu repeatedly before coming, so I knew what to get right away.

I ordered a croissant and a slice of passion fruit lime bavarian cake to go. The svelte young woman behind the counter carefully placed the pastries into a bag and a box. The kind of service you’d expect at an upscale patisserie. Tartine is not cheap; I spent almost $10 on just two items.

Perfect croissant

Deliciously buttery and flaky layers

Nowhere is better than nearby Mission Dolores Park to enjoy the pastries. Although it was a work day, the park was filled with young hipsters chatting, sunbathing, or playing Frisbee. I sat under a tree and tried the croissant first. The perfectly shaped croissant was rich, buttery, both crispy and chewy as if it had a thousand layers. It’d be even better if served warm. It definitely lived up to the hype.

Cake layered with passion fruit bavarian cream

Too bad the cake was just mediocre. It was moist and had a nice lime flavor, but I could hardly taste the passion fruit in the bavarian cream between the cake layers. While the cake looked great and was topped with coconut flakes – my favorite – I expected more at this price.

FLOUR AND WATER

The other night my friend and I got to the immensely popular Californian-Italian restaurant Flour and Water, before it opened at 5:30 pm. Already there was a line of about 10 people. Because the restaurant doesn’t take reservations for small groups, many people (us included) came early to snag a table.

Warm dining room at Flour and Water

Flour and Water has won the hearts of food critics in the press including the San Francisco Chronicle and SF Eater since its opening last year. It isn’t uncommon for people to wait past 10 pm to get in on a weekend night. Fortunately the maître d’, who seemed unperturbed by the early crowd, promptly seated us in the cozy, earth-toned dining room.

The menu was short so it didn’t take us long to make our choices. As a vegetarian, I often don’t have many options anyway. I ordered a shaved cantaloupe salad with tender greens, pickled peppers, and shaved pecorino as my appetizer, then a thin-crust pizza - the restaurant’s claim to fame – topped with arugula and cherry tomatoes as my main course.

Incredibly fresh cantaloupe salad with greens

The greens in my salad tasted incredibly fresh. The unexpected combination of flavors: sweet from the cantaloupe, tangy from the pecorino, with a little bit of heat from the peppers thrown in, immediately set the restaurant apart from its peers.

My main course: thin-crust pizza topped with arugula and cherry tomatoes

The pizza was excellent too. I liked that the crust was firm while still airy and chewy. The fresh toppings, especially the cheese, were remarkable. I’m usually not crazy about cheese, but this cheese had a unusually clean flavor and smooth texture. I should have written down the name of the cheese.

Warm polenta cake with fresh blueberries and corn ice cream

Unfortunately, like at many top-rated restaurants I’ve been to , the dessert was disappointing. My friend got a warm polenta cake with fresh blueberries and corn ice cream from talk-of-the-town ice cream parlor Humphrey Slocombe. The cake was ordinary, and the ice cream didn’t taste of corn at all.

Still, Flour and Water was outstanding overall, perhaps slightly better than another great Italian restaurant, Barbacco, that I tried several months ago. I felt more comfortable with Flour and Water’s neighborly vibe too. Service was at just the right level: attentive but not overbearing. I thought the experience was well worth the $35 (including tips) that we each paid.

P.S. check out this wonderful insider guide to San Francisco in the revamped Wall Street Journal weekend edition, which featured many lesser-known, interesting spots including Mr. and Mrs. Miscellaneous, my new favorite ice cream shop. With flavors such as candied violet and burnt sugar, its offerings are at least as good as that of Bi-Rite Creamery, widely regarded as having the best ice cream in town.

Homecoming for Dad’s birthday

One main reason that I chose to visit Hong Kong in early July, even though it’s the hottest and probably most uncomfortable time to be in Hong Kong, was because I wanted to be with my Dad on his birthday.

Dad’s birthday this year was a landmark birthday according to Chinese customs (I won’t say how old he is!). So our family took it a little bit more seriously.

Since Dad loves eating out, the three of us - Dad, Mom, and I – went to a fancy restaurant on his birthday. But we also had a special dinner at home a few days earlier, and invited my two grandmas and two young cousins to come.

Spread for Dad’s birthday dinner at home

Between the two meals, the home-cooked dinner was more memorable to me. Part of it was I hadn’t eaten at home for nearly 3 years; more important, getting the extended family together is not an easy feat.

We put out an impressive spread. I wasn’t involved in the cooking, and the meal wasn’t all-vegetarian.  Dad likes seafood, and the only two vegetarians at the table were Mom and I. We had steamed fish, slow-braised sea cucumbers with shiitake mushrooms and dried scallops, and sliced abalone stir-fried with vegetables. Both sea cucumbers and abalone are considered luxury ingredients in Cantonese cooking.

But there were many vegetarian dishes too. They included stir-fried Chinese broccoli, braised tofu and brown mushrooms, a stir-fry medley of mung bean sprouts and several other ingredients, and ready-to-eat mock meat (wheat gluten) one of my Grandmas bought from a Chinese vegetarian restaurant. For soup, essential in a Cantonese meal, we had a clear vegetable soup that had simmered for hours.

I thoroughly enjoyed the dinner because of the familiar, comforting flavors I had missed since I lived on my own in the US. Also the intimate chatter over the table. It amazed me how the simple joys of family life, once seemed so remote, resurfaced as if I had never left.

Californian cherries and Chinese birthday buns as desserts

To round up the dinner, we ate cherries imported from California (!) and steamed Chinese birthday buns with egg yolk and lotus seed filling, accompanied by hot tea. I later bought a cheesecake, Dad's favorite, as the birthday cake for our restaurant dinner.

Blueberry cheesecake for Dad’s birthday

Behind Dad’s unassuming demeanor, he loves Mom and me and is committed to our family’s well-being fervently. I know it's a small gesture, but I’m glad that I could spend Dad’s birthday with him. I hope it won’t be long before we see each other again.

Non-stop eating in Singapore, part II

Another food outlet that was on my must-try list during my 36-hour trip to Singapore was a bakery chain called Breadtalk.

Breadtalk in Bugis Junction

Started in Singapore, Breadtalk is one of the few bakery chains that managed to expand across Asia including the tough-to-crack China market. I first learned about Breadtalk when it opened its first store in Hong Kong several years ago, but I’ve never tried it. I was curious to find out what the buzz was about at Breadtalk’s home base.

I need excuses to eat my favorite baked goods too.

Breadtalk has many branches in Singapore and the one I stumbled upon is in the underground food mall at Bugis Junction. My first impression was that the store looked Japanese with its modern and airy design. The buns felt Japanese too – they were small and soft with interesting fillings from adzuki bean paste to cream cheese. Some items had a Singaporean/Chinese touch, such as the use of pork floss (shredded dried pork).

I bought several buns among the dozens on sale, then I saw another bakery as I wandered around the mall. I couldn’t remember the bakery’s name, but it follows the same Japanese style as Breadtalk. The sight of display cases overflowing with buns got the better of me. I picked up a couple from this bakery too.

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Once I returned to the hotel, it’s time for a taste test. Some items in contention (you can see them in the photo album) included: Breadtalk’s flaky pastry filled with banana and cream cheese; Mr. Hakkaido, a long bun spread with adzuki and white kidney beans; the other bakery’s brioche cube with cream cheese filling and pumpkin seeds bun, among others.

Considering their taste and texture, Breadtalk won easily.

But my Singaporean friends told me later that Breadtalk is no longer considered among the best bakeries in Singapore. At least it’s better than the Japanese bakeries in the US though!

I don’t want to bore you with more details of my food adventures in Singapore, so I’m going to stop here. Other memorable bits from the trip that had to do with food:

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- traditional Singaporean breakfast of kaya (coconut jam) toast and kopi (coffee with condensed milk) in a hawker center, and you actually use a spoon to drink the coffee

- curry puff with potato filling and spicy sambar from another hawker center

- vegetarian laksa (though I didn’t try) and other Chinese vegetarian food stalls near the Kwan Im Temple

- endless shopping malls with large food courts and emporiums in major commercial areas (people probably need to stay indoors whenever possible because of the hot and humid weather)

- I brought my running shorts but quickly gave up exercising once I realized how much food there was to check out in Singapore

And finally, thanks to Gina and Siyin for having dinner with me and helping me buy kaya to bring back home. I’m still using it to spread my breakfast toasts…

Note: Yay, this is my 50th post, a mini-milestone for this blog that I should have reached two months ago. THANKS for reading!